Heart Shapes - A Voyager Valentine
by Lesa L
Summary: Harry struggles to explain the concept of Valentine's Day to the very literal Seven of Nine. Neelix, Kim/Seven


I am in the process of posting stories I wrote during Voyager's original run.

Paramount owns them. I just write about them.

Dedicated to Summer and all the members of the Resistance is Futile list

Heart Shapes

A Voyager Valentine

By Lesa L.

Harry tried to straighten his aching back. Almost an hour spent bent into the inner workings of the Astrometric sensors had left him tired, sore and irritable. He heard his coworker's voice behind him, "Ensign Kim, my tricorder is reading a point zero, zero, two variance from the bridge sensors. Rotate the hydrospanner to the left, I will-"

"Damn it, Seven, a point zero, zero, two variance is well within Federation standards," he responded standing up straight and wincing slightly. He placed the spanner on the console and pushed his hair off his face.

"The Borg require perfection apparently the Federation does not," Seven replied coldly.

Knowing it was useless to argue with her Harry handed her the spanner, "If you want the variance fixed, do it yourself. As you've pointed out, I'm an imperfect person."

"Very well," the former drone replied with an arched eyebrow and quickly turned to bend into the opened console.

Harry stretched and leaned back against a work station to admire the view. In the interests of helping her he picked up the Tricorder and gave directions when needed. Admittedly, his attention did waver between the instrument in his hand and the shapely, blue clad posterior in front of him.

After almost half an hour Seven conceded defeat. "It would appear that trying to get below a point zero, zero, one variance is-"

"Futile?" Harry suggested innocently.

Her lips curled slightly, "An inefficient use of time."

"Looks that way," Harry said, trying to hide a smirk. Admitting failure, no matter how slight was no small task for the woman in front of him. Suddenly he grimaced and touched his stomach.

"Ensign, that sound, it came from your abdomen; are you ill?" Something, almost concern came through in her voice.

"I'm not ill, I'm hungry. That was my stomach growling," Harry explained, trying not to roll his eyes. "We've been working on this since 0700 and it's almost one now. I'm going to get some lunch."

"I will accompany you," Seven said decisively.

"Suit yourself," Harry replied, smiling inwardly. He'd learned from experience it was never good to act too eager around his stoic companion.

They talked about other projects the Captain wanted them to work on until they entered the Mess Hall.

"Wow," Harry said looking around.

"Wow, indeed," Seven said as they surveyed the Mess Hall.

Red, white and pink streamers and bows festooned the walls. Pink heart shaped balloons fluttered in all the corners. A large red foil cupid pointed his bow at the newcomers and each table was decorated with a small white glass vase containing one perfect red rose surrounded by pink carnations.

"Harry, Seven!" Neelix greeted them, beaming jovially.

"Neelix, what is all this?" Harry said as a smile lit his face. The Talaxian's good humor was as always, infectious.

"Isn't it wonderful?" Neelix said. "It's Valentine's Day!" The morale officer exclaimed.

"Valentine's Day," Harry said. "I'd forgotten about it. We've never celebrated it on Voyager."

"Well, it's time we did!" Neelix proclaimed. "A holiday that celebrates romance and love. What a wonderful idea! The Captain is going to let us have a little party tonight in Holodeck 2. A "Sweethearts Dance." Neelix noticed several newcomers enter the room. "Welcome! Harry, Seven, you go get yourself some lunch, I'll be by to talk to you later."

They helped themselves to Neelix lunch specials, which in keeping with the holiday all appeared to be in shades of red and pink. The crew seemed to be enjoying the change in decor as well. Excited bits of conversation could be heard though out the room. Also, they observed that many crew members appeared to be carrying small flat objects that seemed to engender great excitement.

"I wonder if the food was originally this color or if Neelix tinted it to go with the decorations?" Harry said as they found a table.

Seven examined a spoonful of a pink mixture closely. "There are times I believe that Voyager would be better served by Neelix working in Tactical full time."

"He means well. And actually, even though he's gone a little over the edge into tacky, I think it's kind of fun to celebrate Valentine's Day again."

"Ensign, explain the customs and rituals involved in this celebration."

Harry smiled, he knew that as adverse as Seven was to frivolous conversation during working hours she was quite interested in interpersonal conversation during their times away from work, which unfortunately had not been very often.

Seven listened carefully as Harry endeavored to explain the significance of hearts, cupids, red roses and anything else associated with the holiday. Several times he lost his train of thought, so distracted was he by the clear, blue eyes fixed almost unblinkingly on him.

To show that she understood, Seven summed up his comments, "This holiday celebrates love, which is represented by the curiously shaped balloons. Humans believe that a muscle that pumps blood somehow influences emotion. Cupid is a god from an archaic religion that attacks people by shooting arrows at them to make them fall in love. What are those flat objects that I see being exchanged among the crew?"

"Those are Valentine's cards," Harry explained retrieving one from another table. "Neelix must have left these out for people to give each other." He showed her a pink open-faced card that displayed a red heart and under it the words:

Be My Valentine

"You see you give these to...special people and it shows that you care about them and that you want to..." Harry struggled trying to find the right words.

"Copulate with them," Seven pronounced.

"No! Well, maybe, but not only that. 'Be my Valentine,' is a way of saying that you have special feelings for that person and that you hope that they are returned."

"Would it not be easier to simply express what you desire precisely, instead of relying on the vagueness of this expression?"

"I guess it would," Harry admitted, stymied for a moment as to how to get through to the extremely literal but lovely young woman across from him.

"Enjoying yourselves?" Neelix asked as he joined them at their table.

Seven was in the middle of chewing a rather dense piece of bread, otherwise Harry was sure that "Enjoyment is irrelevant," would have been her response.

"Everything is really nice Neelix. You've done a great job."

"Thank you. Didn't the decorations turn out well? Did you notice I cut the cava bread into heart shaped pieces? Isn't it delicious? The soured grain really brings out the taste of the oshure spice. Let me get you some more."

Seven shook her head slightly, pointed at the slice of bread and began, "That is not-"

"The word that she would used to describe it," Harry said quickly, sure that her words would damage the Talaxian's feelings.

"That is not what I was going to say," Seven said coldly, holding up a piece of bread. "This is not heart-"

"Hardly enough!" Harry interjected. "Hold your horses, Seven. Neelix is getting us more bread."

"Here we go," Neelix said. "Two more pieces of fresh, hot cava bread."

Harry smothered a smile at Seven's look of distaste, them ventured, "Neelix what was it you said about a dance?"

"Oh the 'Sweethearts Dance,' Yes, yes, Tom is handling all the programming for the party."

"Sweethearts. That implies more than one heart. Is this dance for couples only?" Seven asked.

"Well, not really, but it would be nice if everyone came with a special friend," Neelix said with a delighted smile. "Are you two planning on coming?"

"I guess I will," Harry said reluctantly. "What about you, Seven?"

"I had planned on regenerating this evening. However, I suppose I could attend the festivities. It would be an opportunity to study mating rituals."

"Wonderful!" Neelix exclaimed, "And both of you are special friends, you could come together!"

Harry's eyes widened at Neelix's audacity. "Is that all right with you Seven?"

"Attending the festivity with you is acceptable," she said amiably.

"Wonderful," Neelix said again as he moved to greet more of the lunch crowd. "See you two tonight!"

Harry and Seven watched the Talaxian move away and then looked at each other. Harry swallowed as he felt her eyes seem to bore into his soul. "Are you sure that you don't mind going with me to the dance?" he asked hesitantly. "Neelix kind of pushed you into it."

"I would not agree to do anything I did not wish to do," Seven replied. "Do you not wish to attend with me?"

"No, no. I mean yes, I want to go with you," Harry stammered.

"Very well. Ensign, I have to take our sensor data to Engineering to check against their sensors. And then I will have to regenerate for three hours since I will be otherwise occupied this evening," Seven said rising gracefully from the table.

Harry watched her leave. He noticed that she glanced down at some of the tables as she passed. Her gaze appeared to linger on some of the cards that the crew members had exchanged with one another. Suddenly, Harry had a wild thought, one that normally he would have dismissed as crazy, but something about the day, or the way Seven had looked at him made him act impulsively for the first time that he could remember. He stood up squarely, deposited his tray and left the Mess hall. His eyes gleamed with fierce determination. He was a man with a mission.

Seven returned to Cargo Bay 2 later that afternoon. Her eyes fell on two items on her work station. Items that were not there when she had left this morning. She approached the station and looked down at a single red rose, and a pink card similar to the cards that she had seen exchanged at lunch and even during her time in Engineering today. She picked up the rose and inhaled its lovely fragrance. Her lips curved into a smile. Then she examined the card. The heart symbol had been replaced by another symbol in a fleshy, red color. It was a pear shaped object with two ventricles coming out of the top. Underneath were written the words:

Be my partner in a romantic affiliation,

Harry

Seven considered symbolism of the card and the meaning of the words.

Meanwhile on the bridge Harry stood at his workstation in silent agony, cursing himself for his impetuous behavior. What in the hell had possessed him to send Seven that Valentine? Wait a minute, possessed him. He would tell her that an alien has taken control of his body and forced him to do it! If it could happen to anyone on Voyager, it would happen to him, right?

Damn, damn, damn, why couldn't he have left well enough alone? She had already agreed to go with him to the dance. There was no personal interest on her part was there? God, he was an idiot. The turbolift doors were going to open any second and she was going to throw the card and the rose in his face. Or worse, she would act like it had never happened. He wouldn't be able to even look at her for days. Was it possible to actually die from embarrassment? He'd find out soon enough.

He glanced quickly around the bridge, all the usual crew was there. The silence was deafening. He was sure that everyone could hear his heart beating a panic stricken tattoo in his chest. He wished Tom would crack a joke, Tuvok would relay weapons readiness or Chakotay and the Captain would start one of their little conversations about sumo wrestling or holonovels or the best kind of coffee. Anything, so that he wouldn't have to think about the incredibly stupid thing he had done.

Suddenly his computer flashed to signal an incoming message from Cargo Bay 2. He stared frozen at the blinking light. He was sure that his stomach was going to collapse into itself like a black hole. Finally he forced himself to press the 'read' button. The message consisted of just one word:

Affirmative

"YES!" The silence of the bridge was jolted. The crew turned as one to see a jubilant Harry Kim standing with a fist held triumphantly in the air.

Happy Valentine's Day


End file.
